Keeping God’s Name Holy

WE PRAY THAT GOD’S NAME BE KEPT HOLY

Have you ever wondered why people use the name of God as a curse?
We humans do not really know who God is, nor do we find ourselves on His side, do we? We usually
imagine that God is someone pretty much like us; we expect that he wants the same kind of things that
we want. But we don’t know for sure, especially when things happen that we do not welcome.

But God wants us to know Him truly, and to do that He has revealed Himself to people. After Adam and
Eve turned away from God and tried to hide from Him, He went after them, and He showed them mercy
and kindness by giving them a covering for the shame they felt and a promise of Saviour to come. God
called to Abraham. He gave him promises of a great family, a new home, and blessings so many that
they would reach all the people of the world. To Moses, God revealed His name – Yahweh or “I AM” –
to identify Him as the One who would save His people from their life of Egyptian slavery, bring them
home the land He had promised to Abraham their forefather, and be with them to provide for and
protect them forever.

When you meet someone new, you can say hello to them, engage in small talk, even go on to talk about
important things, but until you introduce yourselves, until you tell each other what your names are, you
haven’t really begun to know each other.

God tells us His name because He wants us to know Him as He really is. Sin introduces all kinds of lies
and misconceptions about God into the world, but God reveals Himself to us truly. He is our Father,
who so loved the world that He gave His Son, Jesus, to live, die, rise from the dead and ascend to heaven
to show us that He has freed us from our sin. And God is the Holy Spirit, who comes to us from God the
Father and Jesus to open our hearts and minds to the faith that accepts and believes the revelation God
gives us of Himself.

The Holy Spirit also helps us to talk to God as His trusting children. He teaches us to pray that God’s
name will be kept holy in our lives. People around us are in the dark spiritually, so they do misuse God’s
name. They curse, and they say things about God that are untrue. But we pray that God will help us, His
people, to speak the truth that we have learned from His Word, so that people can hear and believe the
truth about Him and come to know Him for who He really is. We pray for pastors and missionaries that
their preaching will teach God’s truth and be the way that the Holy Spirit gives faith to those who hear
them. We pray for parents to teach their children who God is and what He does for them. We pray in
hope for God has promised that at the end of this age, His world will be filled with knowledge of Him,
and His name will be hallowed forever.

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” Psalm 19:14